Pep Guardiola has found himself in the history books of the UEFA Champions League once more for leading Man City to another semi-final appearance in the competition. The 51-year-old Spanish manager's side ended Wednesday night's affairs in stalemates and advanced to the last four stage of the European cup competition with a 1-0 aggregate win.
Just as it was the case in the first leg at the Etihad, Atletico Madrid pragmatic approach gave neither of the sides the opportunity to create good goalscoring chances in the first 45 minutes of the encounter. However, a change in tactics brought the game back to life in the second half, although the visitors gave the Spanish side a dose of their own medice by adopting a more defensive approach.
The period was not short of drama, and for the first time in the tie, Atletico managed to pin City in their half for a prolonged period of time. However, La Liga's defending champions could not fashion the all-important goal that would have tied the scoreline. A series of on-field clashes also resulted in the game being paused several, with Stefan Savic pulling Jack Grealish's hair at a point and Felipe eceiving a second yellow card and an eventual red for kicking Phil Foden.
Nevertheless, the scrappy win was enough for Man City as Pep Guardiola reached his ninth Champions League semi-final. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager's haul is the most managed by any manager in the history of the competition. The game was also Manchester City's 100th game in the UEFA Champions League. The Citizens have won 55 of the century of games played - the most by an English side after the same number of appearances - and only trail Real Madrid won 57 of their first 100 in the competition.
